Hidden side of Emily Prentiss
by LoveMeThatsAllIAskOfYou
Summary: Emily is acting strange, can't JJ help the clueless Aaron Hotchner and the BAU boys figure out what's wrong?  bad at summaries, just try it : *


**Here's another random one-shot that I thought of while I was suppose to be cleaning my room ;) I hope you enjoy it. **

**Once again, i must remind you, I don't own CM. It's a sad fact of reality I must face :(**

**~Ash**

Emily Prentiss stood in front of the board looking at the women who had been murdered. They had been beaten, raped and stabbed to death. Each woman was in their mid to late thirties and all were brunette, in all the cases she had worked, no victim ever really got under her skin as when the picture of Kenzie Fisher was put on the board. Kenzie was thin, had prominent cheek bones and was a working woman; she was light but not transparently so. Every time Emily looked at her picture she felt she was looking into the mirror, no victim had ever resembled her like Kenzie did. She was brought out of her thoughts by Hotch who came into the room, with his stoic demeanor, and began to bark orders.

"Alright, Ms Fisher is our 4 victim. Morgan, you and JJ will go to the Fisher home; JJ is currently with Garcia so grab her on your way. Reid and Prentiss, I want you to go to the morgue and examine the body while Rossi and I go the dump…" Hotch was interrupted by an officer who whispered something to him. , "Okay, change of plans, instead of going to the morgue, Reid and Prentiss, they have found suspect. His name is Marvin Heckler, I want you two t go and interview him and see if he's the unsub."

Emily immediately said "NO. I want to go the dump site with you. Please don't send to me with Reid."

The faint sound of a confused Reid could be heard but Hotch was confused, Prentiss never talked back, she only did when he was unfairly judging her.

"Prentiss, I don't appreciate you defying me, you and Reid will go the Heckler residence, do I make myself clear."

"No, I'm not going Hotch, especially not with Reid."

"Why Prentiss, is there something wrong with Reid that I should know about?" He asked raising his eyebrow slightly.

"No sir, even if there was, Reid is a big enough boy to tell you himself."

"That's right, you both are."

Emily was stunned, she knew that she spent most of her time with men but it didn't make her a man. She has been crushing on Hotch since she arrived at the BAU, when his divorce was final it was all she could do but to ask him for drinks. She walked away from the team, when she reached the door and turned around slightly before saying

"I need to be off this case then, just because I spend my day in the BAU boys club doesn't mean I'm one."

She walked into JJ who was heading back the room to discuss what to say to the media, since there had been a leak. JJ looked at her and could tell something was wrong, Emily had tears in her eyes and she never broke down. JJ looked over and saw Hotch walking towards them in a manner that meant he was on a mission. JJ just ushered Emily towards the bathroom, she pulled her inside and locked the door on Hotch. Emily just sat down in the corner and cried with her head on her knees facing away from JJ; JJ walked over and sat down next to her.

"Emily, what's wrong?"

Emily looked up and had wide eyes, "JJ, she looks JUST like me. I can't look into her dead eyes, first he wants me to the morgue. He wants me, the exact type this creepy son of a bitch likes, go the possible unsubs house with Reid. I love Reid, don't get me wrong, he's great at what he does but I'm scared JJ. When I go with Spencer, I need to protect him, he's my little brother. Is it a bad thing to be scared and want for once to be the one protected?

They both were jumped by Hotch who began banging on the door, "Prentiss, JJ, I want a word with you both, now, that's an order"

JJ looked at Emily and squeezed her arm, "Don't worry, I'll handle him.", JJ was about to leave when Emily mumbled.

"I'm always going to be one of the guys to him."

JJ was confused, "To who Emily?"

"Hotch, when I said I didn't want to go with Reid he asked if something was wrong with him that needed to be discussed. I said Reid was a big boy and could tell him if there was. You want to know what he said, "You both are", In the long run, I should stupid but it hurt today. I may dress in pant suits and act all tough but I still am a woman and don't like being seen as not. My mother told me last night, this is why I'm single, and men don't see me attractive because I act too much like a man. I guess she is right."

JJ needed to stop this trainwreck.

"Emily, you are beautiful and not too manly, remember FBI wannabe Brad, he was into you remember?"

"I never said I wasn't beautiful, it's my personality that puts people off."

JJ needed to fix this now; she opened the door and locked it before closing it, keeping Hotch away from Emily. She walked towards Hotch, who was in the conference room with Morgan and Reid, and pushed him into the chair. Hotch was about the reprimand her but she cut him off by saying.

"You are an idiot." She looked at everyone in the room," You all are, look at the board, and tell me what you see."

The men looked at the board and after a minute or so, Reid finally understood it. He sighed, "We really are idiots."

Morgan turned to him gave him a confused look; apparently Hotch and him were still in the dark.

"You guys, its Prentiss."

"Yeah Kid, I know something's wrong with her, but what is JJ getting at?" Morgan asked, irritated.

Reid gave JJ a sympathetic look before answering.

"No, you guys, the victims are all like Prentiss, same hair color, same age and build."

Morgan gritted his teeth together, obvious angry with himself that he didn't notice it sooner. Hotch was stunned, he couldn't believe it went right by him. He stood up and started towards the door but JJ blocked the exit.

"I'm not done with you yet Hotch, we've known each other a long time, so I feel the need to tell you this. You suck when it comes to women."

Hotch stuttered, "Ex-excuse me?"

"Just because Emily spends her every waking moment with you guys, doesn't mean…she is a guy. She wants to feel desired and wants to every now and again be protected. She's scared Hotch, no victim has ever gotten to her like this one. When she's with Reid she feels the need to be the "big sister" and protect him. That is why she didn't want to go with Reid; she wanted to go with you because you make her feel safe."

He looked at her incredulously, "She….feels safe with me?"

"Yes, Hotch, in fact I think she…"She leaned into whisper in his ear, so Morgan and Reid couldn't hear, "I think she wants to be someone you find desirable, she wants to be with you Aaron. Don't let your jaded heart pass this chance by."

Hotch leapt out of his seat and ran to the bathroom door and noticed it was open and Emily wasn't in there. He ran his hands over his face and let out a huge sigh.

"Looking for me sir?" Emily said from behind him, causing him to jump slightly.

"Yes, I want to apologize for not seeing it sooner, Emily. Why didn't you just say you were scared?"

She looked at the floor and blushed, "Because you never are."

"That's bullshit and you know it, when I was listening to Cyrus beat you up, it took all my strength not to rush in and get it. "

She looked up at him with a surprised face. Hotch held out his hand and guided her into an empty office, when he noticed they were gaining an audience. He closed the door while Emily took a seat in the closest chair.

"Emily, the things you do to me, I can't explain. I can't let it get out that you have an effect on me. You keep me sane yet not at the same time, does that make sense, no…it doesn't. I'm sorry I'm not good at emotions. If Strauss were to know I get easily distracted by you she wouldn't waste time trying to break us up…"

"Wait" Emily interrupted, "You are interested in me?"

"You have no idea. I know I come off callous but it's just so people can't read me. When I see a dead boy, I think of Jack and it hurts but I try not to let it. We all have our weak day, and today was yours. Next time don't feel embarrassed to tell me. Oh and by the way, I never meant to insinuate you were a man, you are far from one. Right now we need to head over to the dump site. When we get back to Quantico we'll discuss this further, for this trip, I'm not sending you out without me."

Emily smiled at him and stood up to hug him. Hotch took a second to register what was going on, but he suddenly relaxed and wrapped his arms around the currently fragile brunette. The two just stood in this embrace for a while before continuing with the case. She felt the fear fall off her and the confidence come back full force.

They finished the case in record time before another body was found or person was abducted. As Emily took her seat next to Hotch on the plane she smiled at him and he offered her his hand to hold. She wasn't sure what this meant but she took it without thinking twice and leaned into his shoulder. He whispered into her ear, "I was thinking I'd take you out to dinner tomorrow, it will be too late when we get home."

She rose quickly from her relaxed state and asked "What about Strauss?"

"Let's just say, we have some dirt on our side."

They both looked over at Rossi who gave them the thumbs up after hanging up his phone. Emily leaned back into Hotch as he put his arm around her and she fell asleep smiling, the first real smile she'd had in a while.


End file.
